First Wave Feminism: Issues and Debates - Essay Example

In my view the movement was quite successful in achieving its goals but it still did not provide all the rights to the women living in the United States because of which a second and third feminism wave followed the first wave. This essay would further prove this claim by giving an overview about the first wave of feminism in the United States and its drawbacks (William 1969) Women have been treated as inferior to the men in every segment of this world until they fight for their rights to be served as equal to the men.

The first wave of feminism started in 1868 and lasted till the 1960s in the United States (William 1969). The main aim of this feminist movement was to retain the rights of women in the country. Before the first wave of feminism took place the condition of women in the United States was miserable. The women were not allowed to vote and had no shares when it came to property rights. Wives did not have any rights when it came to justice over their husbands as they were not allowed to file any petition in case of any harshness.

Moreover the child custody laws and divorce laws also favored men over the women and did not show the object of equality in them. Workplace laws were not present at that time and women could not work easily in those times. Because of this it could be noted that the number of working women was quite less at those times in the United States (Beaver 1980 & Clarke 1974). Most of all women students were not granted the rights to study in colleges or universities. All these factors together counted towards the miseries of the women in those times.

Several of the women started this movement but the most well-known amongst the leaders were Elizebath Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Coffin Mott and Susan B Anthony. The women of the first feminist movement proved quite successful in achieving their objectives but on the other hand they were